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Louis - My Little Fighter


CrazyCresties
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It has now been just over 7 months since Louis was diagnosed with IMHA and against all odds he is still here with me :heart: IMHA is a hateful condition with a high mortality rate, and Louis is so far one of the lucky ones that has responded well to treatment and is almost weaned off all his drugs.

It hit him overnight in May, seemingly fine one day and then off his food and lethargic the next. His treatment was a high dose of pred and an immune suppressant called Atopica (cyclosporine). The pred dosage was almost killing him as much as the condition, and we had a very rough few weeks at the start while we tried to stop and reverse his body destroying its own red blood cells.

He has had all sorts of side effects throughout this, muscle wastage and weakness, increased appetite and thirst, and liver issues from the pred. Oral papilloma, very dry skin and gingivitis from the Atopica. Luckily these have all been reversible and disappeared as dosages have reduced.

He has had a blood test every two weeks since the diagnosis, with one every day at the start, x-rays, ultrasounds and drugs costing over $100 a week for the first few months. I've given up counting, but we are well over $16k so far. Oh, and he developed glaucoma 3 months ago! Again he has responded well to the treatment and hasn't lost his vision. Other people would think it crazy to spend so much, but he hasn't been in pain throughout this and he truly is my heart dog.

I took some shots of him yesterday, as apart from the pot belly and lack of muscle tone due to not being allowed out, he is looking pretty good at the moment :) The next couple of months will be all fingers crossed as we wean him off the last drug, especially as the underlying cause of this is unknown.

My little buddy boy :heart: :heart: :heart:

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Had enough now :sleep:

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Full set including bloopers here - http://flic.kr/s/aHsjQsKZku

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He looks so good CC, amazing how he is beating the odds. So glad for you guys :)

Love the photo series too, it is so recognisably Australian and so lovely and sharp I thought it must have been on your 100mm until I had a sneak peek at the metadata :laugh:

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